Dairy Déjà vu All Over Again

The Senate’s passage of a continuation of the 2008 farm law for nine more months is like “Ground Hog Day all over again,” says Chris Galen, National Milk Producer Federation senior vice president of communications.

“We’ll be arguing over the same issues in 2013 that we did in 2012,” he says. “It’s like 2012 never happened.”

The House of Representatives must still vote on the measure, but it’s likely the House will simply pass the same measure and President Obama will sign the measure--perhaps this week.

“These stop-gap efforts don’t even qualify as kicking the can down the road,” says Jerry Kozak, NMPF President and CEO. “It’s little more than a New Year’s Day, hair-of-the-dog stab at temporarily putting off decisions that should have been made in 2012 about how to move farm policy forward, not offer more of the same.”